Spring into Gardenwatch

Have you been watching Springwatch? I’m still on “catch up” but thoroughly enjoying it.

If you have been watching you’ll know that they want you to take part in “citizen science” in the UK’s biggest nature reserve. Where is that, you might ask? Add together all the gardens in the UK, and combined, they cover an area larger than Suffolk, and have the potential to be one huge nature reserve!

Gardenwatch is a collaborative project between British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Springwatch. They want to know all about our gardens. Then they can build a comprehensive picture of how gardens can help UK wildlife species to thrive in the the future. As our towns and cities become more densely populated, gardens are becoming an increasingly vital refuge for wildlife. This audit will help BTO to build a picture of how gardens can help wildlife to thrive in the future.

There are lots of interesting “missions”, you can help with on the website. There is also lots of advice and resources if you need some support to identify the species you find.

Do get involved if you can. If you are involved in a community garden, maybe you can carry out some “team missions” counting worms, birds whatever!

I visited a wonderful wildlife friendly garden, last week as part of the Mayor’s Open garden trail in Seaford. At Clare’s garden in Kedale Road, Nikki and Michael from Sussex Wildlife Trust were on hand, to encourage children to spot wildlife in the beautiful garden which was buzzing with bees and insect life, had a pond, compost heap, bird boxes and more.